Quick Update

Congrats to Annette and Carin for completing another Competent Leader award! Those two awards put us up to two points towards the 9* we need for the Distinguished Club Program.

We may have had one point already, but the final speech given for that award was on June 30th, so technically it was earned during the last Toastmaster year. Since the Toastmasters Dashboard isn't charting the current year yet I am going with the more conservative accounting for DCP.

For a brief head's up to anyone that doesn't already know, our Summer Pot-Luck Party and Vandye Forrester's house up in Garden Valley is this weekend. We'll start things off at 1 PM and the so-called "official" meal time is 3 PM, but we'll have food through-out and we'd rather see you come for a visit and have to leave early than not at all.


*We only need 5 points for Distinguished, but that has never been Boise Club 61's Goal.

The Beginning of the 2015-2016 Toastmasters Year at Boise Club 61

Tonight is Boise Club 61's 1st meeting of the new Toastmaster Year and we will be inducting most of our new officers tonight. Last week we had several officers unable to attend and tonight we will be short one officer, so we chose the induction for tonight to get the most attendees possible.

I have a few goals, tweaks, and changes in mind for the club this year, but since this is our club the most I'll be doing is gathering some ideas from the executive team and the club members, adding a few of my own, and see what we want to work on collectively as a group.

Some really minor things I feel I can easily accomplish without needing permission, like keeping the club informed about our progress in the Distinguished Club Program (DCP) and making some posts here on our blog. We do also have a Facebook page, which I recommend checking out, but I doubt I'll make many posts there.

Our Boise Club 61 Officers for the 2015-2016 year are:
President      Christopher Stogdill
VP Education      Phill Vansickle
VP Membership      Robert Corbin
VP Public Relations   Annette Krause
Secretary      Carolyn Stogdill
Sergeant at Arms      Rob Lucas

The main way for folks to keep informed about the Club's DCP progress has been the Toastmaster's Dashboard, which is an open site for all to view. You don't need a login (I verified this myself by using an incognito browser) and you can check out any club in the entire organization.

Odds are, for the average member, this is a bit much so I'll be keeping folks updated using a "simple" graphic I made and used as this post's lead-in graphic. There are 10 DPC points that can be earned and fully half of them have multiple parts to each point. Without listing every point I think you can guess which points have multiple parts to them....

We need 5 points to get "Distinguished Club", 7 points for "Select Distinguished" and 9 for "President's Distinguished". As you can see by the info on the right side of this page Boise Club 61 has been President's Distinguished for the last eight years running. I'm hoping we'll make it nine years before I finish up my term of office.

On a couple levels I don't really care for if Boise Club 61 makes Distinguished, much less President's Distinguished, but the fact of the matter is that these 10 points that make up the DCP program correlate strongly with healthy clubs. If you participate in the DCP program and earn these awards, you most likely will have a strong & healthy club.....so for that reason I'm all for the DCP program.

The dashboard is still trying to finalize things for last year so it doesn't yet show our progress, but I was able to look up a few things and get my new tracker updated.

I hope you are able to attend the meeting tonight and welcome our new officers!

President's Distinguished Club

Boise Club 61 has just completed 100% of the requirements towards President's Distinguished Club.  If you are unfamiliar with the Distinguished Club Program, you might want to read up on this post.

I'm happy that we managed to achieve our goal in a timely manner.  That we could do so speaks highly of our club and (of course) it's members.  There are always things we can do individually and as a group to become better speakers and leaders, but that's why we all joined Toastmasters to begin with.

Much of the success in completing DCP requirements come from work that is started before the Toastmaster year.  Even though I finished a Competent Communicator and a Competent Leader this year, some of my meeting roles and speeches occurred before July 2011 when the current Toastmaster year started.  We still have roughly 25 meetings before the next DCP cycle begins.

Now is the time to lay some of the groundwork that will allow us to complete those manuals we need for President Distinguished Club in 2012-2013.  My personal goal is a Triple Crown next year.

What is yours?

Boise Club 61 DCP Progress

Just a quick update on Boise Club 61's progress towards becoming a President's Distinguished Club.  One of the information boxes on the right side of the blog contains a rather simple tracker on the club's progress.  At the time of writing this post, Boise Club 61 is 89% towards reaching our goal.

In case you are unfamiliar with the Distinguished Club Program, there is a series of 10 "action items" for a club to work on throughout the Toastmaster year, which starts on July 1st.  If a club manages to fulfill five goals they are known as a Distinguished Club for that year.  Fulfilling seven goals makes a club a Select Distinguished Club and meeting nine of the ten goals means that the club is a President's Distinguished Club.  The club gets a nice ribbon to hang on their club banner and some small measure of bragging rights is earned.

I'm certain the true purpose of the Distinguished Club Program is to create strong and healthy clubs which enable Toastmasters International to meet their overall goals of "making effective oral communication a worldwide reality".  Obviously there is a strong correlation between a active and healthy club and their ability to excel with the Distinguished Club Program.  This is NOT to say that clubs which don't obtain President's Distinguished Club aren't good, strong clubs.  Smaller clubs may well have difficulties meeting some of the goals.


Here is a snapshot of Club 61's DCP progress.  It may not completely mesh with the DCP report from Toastmasters International because I get my number updated quicker than they do (I only have to deal with one club!)

Realistically speaking, we should be 100% before the end of January.  We will be 94% after the TLI on January 7th, and 100% when one of our members gives his 10th speech form the Competent Communicator manual later in January.  I expect Boise Club 61 to go above and beyond  President's Distinguished Club and complete all ten goals before the year is up on June 30th.  This isn't a push to get us to 111%, just a statement that odds are we will attract two new members within the next six months. 

What do Area Governors do?

November 30th marks the last day area governors can get their reports in, one of the crucial parts of their job.  These reports allow the District to get a snapshot of how that club is doing and what problems it may be facing.  Boise club's report is below and shows what information an area governor is expected to gather for those of you who may be considering becoming an area governor next year.  Way to go Deborah for getting this report in early!!

Annette

Dear Deborah,

This is an e-mail confirmation of the Area Visit Report recently submitted for:
Boise Club, Boise, ID, Area 02 Division A District 15

* Required Field
* Date of Visit:		08-09-2011
1. Distinguished Club Program/Membership
Goal 1: Two CCs -- Which two members will achieve CCs this year and when?
	Name: Fred Riggers		Date: 07/18/11
	Name: Christopher Stogdill		Date: 01/03/12
Goal 2: Two more CCs -- Which two additional members will achieve CCs this year and when?
	Name:Alejandro Anastasio		Date: 12/31/11
	Name: Dave Manning		Date:02/28/12
Goal 3: One AC -- Which member will achieve an AC this year and when?
	Name: Annette Manning		Date: 08/05/11
Goal 4: One additional AC -- Which member will achieve an additional AC this year and when?
	Name:Mary Hayes		Date:05/30/12
Goal 5: CL, ALB, ALS or DTM -- Which member will achieve one of these leadership awards this year and when?
	Name:George Jolley		Date:02/28/12
Goal 6: One additional CL, ALB, ALS or DTM -- Which member will achieve one of these leadership awards this year and when?
	Name:Christopher Stogdill		Date:09/30/11
Goal 7: Four new members
Has the club achieved this goal?			No
If no, when will the club achieve this goal?			Date: 01/10/12
Goal 8: Four more new members
Has the club achieved this goal?			No
If no, when will the club achieve this goal?			Date: 05/17/12
Does the club have an active membership-building program?			Yes
Goal 9: Minimum four officers trained June--August and December--February
How many club officers attended training in:		June--August? 7	December--February?
Has the club achieved this goal?			Yes
If no, describe efforts club will make to ensure officers are trained at next opportunity:
Goal 10: Dues Renewals/Officers List
Has the club achieved this goal?
If no, and the club will achieve this goal, enter date(s):			Date:
Does the club have 20 or more members?			Yes
Is the club working towards the DCP requirement of a net gain of 5 members or membership of at least 20 members by June 30?
			Yes
If no, describe what changes the club will be making to achieve this requirement:
List any members who will be achieving additional educational awards this year and the dates those awards will be achieved:
2. Club Quality Standards (check all that apply):
The meeting:
	well organized, productive, run on time, agendas provided, effective evaluations
Did speakers receive verbal and written evaluations?		Yes
If no, please explain:
Were all speeches from the manuals?			Yes
If no, please explain:
Has the club recently conducted one or more modules from The Successful Club Series?
			Yes
If no, please explain:
Guests:
	warmly welcomed, provided information, invited back
Recognition:
	actively participates in the Distinguished Club Program, celebrates member achievement
New Members:
	orients new members, assigns mentors to new members
Club Officers:
	meet at least monthly, actively promote membership growth
3. Area Governor Comments
List members interested in future leadership roles within the district:
Club strengths:
Club 61 has many strengths. A few include strong leadership, new members filling officer roles, mentoring program, presenting educational speeches regularly, welcoming guests and monthly officer meetings.
*Areas needing attention:
This club is very strong because they have excellent leadership and follow the guidelines for successful meetings. Even with a large membership,challenges still exist. Club 61 will need to keep a diligent eye on their membership to ensure they continue to meet everyone's needs. I believe the leadership is well aware of this challenge.
Recommendations for action:
What can the district and I do to support the club?
I will continue to visit the club and be available for support whenever and however possible.
Thank you for submitting your report.